Experiences of African-American men with serious mental illness and their kinship networks within the mental health care system

ABSTRACTInformed by the Network-Episode Model, 26 African-American men with serious mental illness and 26 members of their kinship networks completed in-depth qualitative interviews about their experiences with the mental health care system to better understand racial differences in mental health care. The aim was to better understand communication among kin networks, clients, and treatment agencies with a focus on the opportunities for kinship involvement. Although kin were involved in clients’ everyday lives, they were largely excluded from the community mental health agency (CMHA) and treatment decisions. In addition to incorporating family resources, enhanced efforts by CMHAs to collaborate with kin may increase knowledge about mental illness and mental health care in the African-American community, removing an impediment to service access and client retention.